• orclev@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    32
    ·
    1 year ago

    The one thing they don’t really talk about is how it turns. The animations show vertical movement almost exclusively. At one point in the video there is a far shot showing a car turning and it looks like they actually swivel the entire motor to keep it perpendicular to the wheel which if true is going to pretty heavily limit it’s turning angle and radius.

    • XeroxCool@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      1 year ago

      The front wheels show CV-looking boots at 4:20 and 5:10. Even the rear wheels will likely need cv joints. Independent suspensions change camber with that coroner’s ride height to improve traction. That’s why when a car is overloaded, the wheels look like /—\ and when it’s on a lift, the wheels go -–/ (to varying degrees).

      • orclev@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        While there is some kind of boot shown the entire selling point of this thing was that it’s supposed to eliminate the need for CV joints. At that same 5:10 mark or there about you can also see the shot that appears to show the motors being pivoted to turn the wheel. I suspect these are not CV joints although they are joints most likely for camber adjustment as you point out, probably something like a universal joint.

        • XeroxCool@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          A U-joint has worse modulation between input and output than a CV joint. However, I did look again at the video as big as I could and you are right, the motors are pivoting. It seems to only pivot a partial amount and still at an angle to the wheel. Something is still being glossed over.

      • snooggums@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        1 year ago

        The whole pitch was based on replacing CV joints on front wheel drive vehicles.

        From the presentation it looks limiting and to be honest it looks a bit overly complicated and likely to have some massive early growing pains. CV joints are comparatively simple and this is supposed to be more reliable? That’s not how it works.

        • Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          There’s still CV-joints there in the video despite the uniwheel. You can’t turn the wheels without one. I’m probably just not understanding this but seems like instead of making the drivetrain more simple this just adds more moving parts that’s going to need oil changes and replacing.

      • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        Always need a flexible joint such as CV or Universals to compensate for suspension movement. And they work in pairs, because +angular change is compensated by - angular change of opposite end of shaft.

    • pHr34kY@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Even if it was only useful at the rear, it would allow the battery to be moved further back and produce a better weight distribution. Most cars are front-heavy.